Fear of Death

Posted by RabbidMickeyMouse on March 31, 2007, 12:56 a.m.

I’ve developed quite the fear of death. The thought of having no other alternative in the end other than blinking out of existence brings up the worry that existence is entirely pointless, whereas we can only hope our actions and ideas carry on greater momentum than we created.

And yet, we’ll die. Surrender existence. Forgo our intelligent and self-conscious awareness of the universe around us. It seems as though I’m stuck watching one channel on television. Did I like it? Did it make sense? Did it at least serve to make a compelling point about something relevant, or in the least, something interesting?

Some of us are stuck serving out an existence bound by certain social constraints which most of us, as to avoid ruining an enjoyable life for others and ourselves, conform to and perhaps agree with. While we’ll disagree with some ideas, disagreeing or agreeing makes it that much better knowing we’re capable of demonstrating a certain degree of free will and thought. Learning and developing a deeper understanding of anything is motivation enough to continue living.

I could never pull together the will of choosing to kill myself. I’m driven insane enough with the thought I’m going to die. Although, I find respect for people such as Cesque or my late brother. They’re the individuals who've been able to accept death, as they feel there are worse things to worry about.

I’m going to turn 19 any day, and most would find it confusing that a person of my age would have such worries of death, as I have many years ahead of me. Some that I have spoken with feel a fear of death is somewhat selfish, assuming the such fears lead to nihilistic thinking, devaluing everything, neglecting the problems of others, and refusing to contribute to much of anything, arguing that existence is meaningless. In my case they may be right, that my fears of death may evolve to such thinking.

I wonder how much of our actions are motivated as a result of knowing we’re eventually going to die. Finding and fulfilling a purpose for living seems more a matter of combating our fears of death than anything else sometimes. How much would the lives of individuals change if their conception of death was not that of ceasing to exist, but simply something never thought of or concerned with? Would we have ever been as intelligent as we are today if it wasn’t for the first groups of primates who saw enough of death objectively that they were able to acknowledge their lives would eventually end that drove them to slowly realizing alternative actions which could have otherwise kept them alive? I wonder if our continued observations and learning of the universe is simply a means of keeping death at bay, where we may end up like Isaac Asimov’s humans in “The Last Questionâ€?, hoping to reverse entropy, to live another day, learning, simply existing.

Continuing our conflict between developing reason and evading death seems to provide the only meaning to things. Assuming we find a way to exist forever, reason is finite, a death in its own I would think once we reach the end of reason, whereas any meaning is lost in ubiquitous understanding and knowledge. Thus, we'll die either way. :\

Comments

n1ko 17 years, 7 months ago

no offense taken, i was wiating for someone to say something like that.

blueBX 17 years, 7 months ago

I'm wasting my life trying to read this blog about death.

Jabberwock 17 years, 7 months ago

We're studying existentialism in literature. Your analysis is rather similar to a Jean-Paul Sarte story called The Wall.

I suffer from periods of strong conviction that there is a God and there is meaning in life, as well as periods of certainty of the meaninglessness of life. These latter things used to be a lot more frequent before I realized that no matter what I do, I will die, and it doesn't matter how famous I am or anything. When reading a history book, I'm constantly thinking, wow, these people are all dead now, and they thought they changed the world, but they really didn't. Because of this, I've decided that I'm not going to try to change the world anymore. I believe that the meaning of life (as stated in Ecclesiastes) is to find pleasure in your work, and the company of friends and family, and in simple pleasures, because "all is vanity". I don't know if what I just said made any sense.

@ the EMO comment- I second Cesque.

Cesar 17 years, 7 months ago

@biggerfish

I meant the reasons you stated, if somebody's suffering and they want to die, they're either thinking irrationally or want to end the pain quickly. There's nothing wrong with that.

RabbidMickeyMouse 17 years, 7 months ago

Thanks for the input everyone.

I've decided I should render a list of books to read in the near future. After a little research, the books suggested look like interesting reads. If anyone has any related literature (or films and games for that matter) that they’d like to point out for me, I’d be more than willing to look into it further.

The problem I need to overcome now is that of having to learn how to enjoy reading fiction. I've read enough non-fiction over the past few years in the form of science/economic/political magazine articles, computer code, and chess/strategy games that I've almost forgotten how to read fictional literature, interrupting events, understanding emotional subtleties, constructing the environment and actions in my head and so on.

Polystyrene Man 17 years, 7 months ago

I take it you're an Atheist. Isn't it the Atheistic belief that once a person dies, there is nothing? It's not like you'll be staring into blackness and regretting that you could have done so much more with your life… there will be nothing… and you will be unable to sense that nothingness.

RabbidMickeyMouse 17 years, 7 months ago

I find philosophical solace in Taoism, where humility and simplicity play a major role in its thinking. Generally, death is seen as a nirvana of sorts, where the body becomes one with the world, seen as nothing more than being a part of larger systems where its fundamental forces are in continuous give and take with each other (although unless entropy leads to another Big Bang down the road, it may simply prove to be a short-lived principle).

It’s true, that once I die I won’t be able to look back on my life and regret every moment I wish I had lived out differently. So one should assume that as long as there is nothing to worry about when we’re dead, there’s no reason to spend our time worrying about things as if we’re already dead.

Nevertheless, it’s knowing that I’ll have to give up consciousness forever that worries me the most. Whether or not I’ve lead a meaningful existence doesn’t seem to matter as much as knowing my mind is going to die. It not that I want a better life for myself, fearing that before I die I’ll only regret the life I lived, yet knowing that existence in any form is over. We can lose our money, house and family, but life in my mind is still worth living knowing I’m alive to live it.

Jabberwock 17 years, 7 months ago

Well, Christianity doesn't have that problem, though I still worry about it at times. :/